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Santa Maria del Carmine dell'Osteria di Malafede
'''Santa Maria del Carmine dell'Osteria di Malafede '''is a deconsecrated early 19th century public chapel with a postal address at Via di Malafede 8. The chapel itself faces onto the Via Ostiense. This is in the Malafede zone. The dedication is to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under her aspect of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. History The locality has a very odd name -"Bad faith". Nobody knows why, and the only guess seems to be that it has something to do with brigands. It was first recorded in a sale of property in 1542. The original mediaeval farmstead, fairly certainly on the footprint of an ancient Roman villa, was not here but on the other side of the road near the river. It had a defensive tower and so was called ''Casale Malafede. ''It survived until the later 18th century, but for some reason was entirely demolished. The present little complex, the ''Osteria di Malafede, ''was built on the roadside in the very early 19th century since Antonio Nibby mentioned it in writing in 1819. The opening of this roadside inn corresponded with a growing number of visitors travelling down the Via Ostia to view the ruins of Ostia Antica, where archaeological excavations (of a sort) had begun. However, the main clientele seems to have consisted of hunters after the wildfowl in the extensive marshes of the area (now mostly drained). Nibby mentions that the proprietor of the inn tried to change the name to ''Osteria di Buonafede ''("Inn of Good Faith"), but failed owing to the protests of customers. The inn was provided with a chapel, somewhat larger than the standard farmstead chapel of the Roman Campagna. This would have served a tiny and scattered local population, since the area was almost uninhabited at the time. The chapel was deconsecrated some time in the 20th century, before the new suburb of Malafede was laid out around the turn of the millennium. The church of San Pio da Pietrelcina was provided for it. Latterly the ''Osteria ''has been functioning as a restaurant, and the chapel apparently as a furniture store for an adjacent builders' yard. The restaurant was called ''Casale Malafede, ''but failed in 2018 and closed down. The locality is now served by the new church of San Pio da Pietrelcina Appearance The building is in good condition, and still recognisable as a former chapel. It is on a rectangular plan, and comprises a nave of three bays with a sanctuary of a single bay. The fabric is in brick, entirely rendered in an orange ochre colour, and the roof is pitched and tiled. The nave bays are separated by blind pilasters, and each bay has a white-framed vertical rectangular window in its right hand side wall. The second bay in the left hand side wall has a side entrance instead, with a slightly curved lintel. There is a priest's house attached to the back, having a single-pitched roof with its top line at the level of the main roof gutters. There is a tall bell-cote perched on the far tip of the main roof ridge, over the sanctuary. This has a tiled gable, and a round-headed aperture with room for two bells (one above the other). Unusually, this bell-cote or campanile is accompanied by the chimney of the priest's house. The simple façade has two pairs of blind pilasters in white, supporting a triangular crowning pediment. A single entrance doorway, framed in white, is fitted into the space between the two inner pilasters which are further apart than the width between the members of each pair. A rectangular window, low down, is in between each pair. A plain strip of molding connects the pilasters just below the pediment cornice. The tympanum of the latter has a slightly recessed triangular panel, edged in white. External links Info.roma web-page Category:Catholic churches Category:Outside the walls - South-West Category:Dedications to the Blessed Virgin Mary Category:19th century Category:Deconsecrated churches Category:Public chapels